Entertainment

Asterpix Hypervideos Officially Launch

Asterpix is officially launching its site to the public today. Though already live, the site has been operating in public beta for the past three months. We first checked out Asterpix's video hyperlinking tools back in September, and immediately noticed its unique approach to this emerging hypervideo concept.

With the official launch, Asterpix has flushed out it's core competencies and incorporated some recommendations and tweaks based on user activity. One such modification is the way in which "hotspots" (or links) are identified for videos. Moving away from the circles, Asterpix now uses rectangles that start out strong and then fade to become hardly noticeable. This will ensure that the hotspots aren't interfering with the video.

Another new feature is the ability to link to a video from the current video widget, and have the new video open directly in the current widget as well. This introduces the feeling of changing the channel while you watch television, for a more continuous experience. What I personally found to be the case is that this in fact can be more likened to opening a new link in the same screen or a new tab, but fortunately Asterpix will take you back to the original clip to continue where you left off.

One good feature about Asterpix is the "mashup" capabilities for creating your own hypervideo from content that's already hosted elsewhere. It's widget is a mlti-functional sharing function with channel options that speak to Asterpix's hopes of bringing some TV functions to its tools as well. As Asterpix has already indicated, it's looking to partner with video hosting and sharing services for further integration of its hypervideo tools.

Below is an example of Asterpix, complete with its new major features.

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